Forum on Commercialization of Darag Native Chicken
Researchers, farmers, entrepreneurs and advocates of Darag native chicken will converge in Iloilo City on December 4 -5, 2008 to address the thrust of elevating Darag native chicken production and marketing into the commercial level. To lead the discussions will be researchers and cooperators of the S and T Anchor Program on Philippine Native Chicken of the Western Visayas Agriculture and Resources Research and Development Consortium (WESVARRDEC) .
With West Visayas State University (WVSU) as the lead agency, the S and T Anchor Program is a regional collaboration of some member agencies of WESVARRDEC such as DA-WESVIARC, Capiz State University (CapSU), School of Technology (SOTECH) and College of Management (CM) of UPV, Iloilo State College of Fisheries (ISCOF)-Dingle Campus, Aklan State University (ASU), and the Central Philippine University (CPU) which conducted studies on the different aspects of Darag native chicken from breed purification, egg and chick production, slaughter chicken production, marketing and policy formulations to support its institutionalization as a commercial commodity of Region 6. The S and T Anchor Program ran for three-years (2005-2008) with funding support from by the DOST-PCARRD and the mentioned member agencies of WESVARRDEC. However, WVSU has been focusing on the R and D on Darag since 1985, under the leadership of retired animal scientist and University Professor Dr. Bernabe Cocjin.
The "2008 Native Chicken Commercialization Forum" aims to address the needs and gaps for Darag native chicken commercialization which is a present thrust of Region 6. "It is high time that the outputs of long years of research of the WVSU and the other institutions in the region be put into appropriate technology packages for application and use by farmers and entrepreneurs", quipped Mr. Ricardo Provido, chair of the Regional Agricultural and Fisheries Council in Western Visayas, and a prominent advocate of Darag, during the Darag IEC Team meeting at the Residence Hotel in September this year. He firmly confirms the high economic potential of native chicken because of its niche market. By niche market, he is referring to the relatively small but specialized markets of the native chicken either as live ready to slaughter or processed into local dishes like the popular Ilonggo lechon manok, adobo, tinuom, etc.
The distinctive and sought-after flavor that can be experienced from eating a native chicken preparation has been attributed by Dr. Synan Baguio, a PCARRD poultry scientist, to its content of some types of amino acids such as aspartic and glutamic acids. Dr. Baguio also strongly believes that the stability of phenotypic characteristics of Darag is a must if commercialization is our target.
With the wealth of information on Darag native chicken that could be generated from the 2008 Darag Forum, the organizers led by WESVARRDEC and the Darag IEC Team are enthusiastic about the success of the commercialization of Darag for the benefit of native chicken farmers, entrepreneurs , researchers and consumers.
For more inquiries on the Darag Forum, please contact the WESVARRDEC office at telefax no. (033) 335-0630, or email the Darag IEC team at iec.darag@gmail.com.